A wheel still in spin
by Mage-Alia
Summary: It only takes a moment to change history. A single word, a  glance, a kiss or even an unexpected death, but in that moment Nite Owl and Rorschach find themselves with the chance to change everything. But how far is too far when saving the world? no pair


Watchmen AU

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><p>Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Watchmen, and I make no profit from the publishing of this story. The Rights to the characters and referenced storylines used belong to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.<p>

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><p>A Wheel Still In Spin.<p>

By: Mage-Alia

Prelude: Blood in the Snow

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><p>Summary: It only takes a moment to change the course of history. A single word, a single glance, a kiss or even an unexpected death, but in the space of a moment, Nite Owl and Rorschach, find themselves with the chance to change everything. But how far is too far when it comes to saving the world?<p>

No Pairings….. for the foreseeable future.

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><p>In that one moment... the world had all but ended around them.<p>

Though there wasn't an explosion nearby to herald the new age, they felt it. Miles and Miles away, they knew that their city, the streets they'd walked, and the homes they'd lived in, had all been destroyed.

"Do you really think I'd explain my master stroke to you, if there was the slightest chance you could do anything to stop it?"

Adrian's words hung in the air like lead weights, bringing them down as they sank into despair.

_"I launched it thirty-five minutes ago." _

The bottom dropped out of Nite Owl's stomach as the chilling reality set in. They where too late... they'd always been too late. Standing, in a broken building in the middle of the arctic, they where given the cold comfort of being alive, while millions.

God... Millions...

Millions of people where dead.

Millions of deaths... to save billions.

It just wasn't right.

Then Jon intervened, they'd felt some hope, that maybe Adrian would be brought to justice after all. That the man would get his just desserts... but then Jon had betrayed _Them_. Rorschach walked out into the snow, and in that bare instant Dan could see into the minds of all those present. He could see the conflict in Laurie, as she fought with herself. He could see the calm detachment in Adrian, and in Jon...

"Don't you dare even think about it." The second Nite Owl ground out as fiercely as he could manage before he turned on his heel and gave chase.

He didn't see Jon flinch.

Outside of Karnak, the snow had slowed to a halt in mid air. The air flushed with an unnatural warmth that was at odds with the sight of the clone of Jon standing on the other side of his long time Partner and friend.

_"Out of my way, people have to be told." _

_"You know I can't let you do that."_

_"Suddenly you discover humanity... convenient."_

Dan skidded to a stop in the snow and for a moment he could see the torn look hidden under the super man's blank facade. Adrian had been right about one thing. To the world, it would have looked like he hadn't reacted, but to someone who knew him... Rorschach had seen it too, because suddenly he'd torn off his mask. The blotches on the cloth going still in his hands as it left the warmth of his face and instead of the blank canvas he showed the world, there was the human staring back at them. Sometimes, it was all too easy to forget that Rorschach was human under the mask, but it was a strength he could still claim against Jon... whom they knew had floated too far.

_"If you'd cared from the start... None of this would have happened."_ The red haired man's words were quietly accusing and Jon's sudden blink looked almost hurt as his gaze flickered over his shoulder to where Dan was still framed in the door.

_"I can change almost anything... but I can't change human nature."_ The words, although empty, where much more profound. Rorschach nodded along bitterly.

_"Suppose you must protect Veidt's new Utopia."_ He said, disappointment and hurt obvious in every word to the point where Dan thought he might cry. _"What's one more body amongst foundations?" _

And suddenly, Jon was looking everywhere _But_ at him as the words sank in.

_"What are you waiting for."_ Rorschach growled in quiet desperation, as if the thought of living with so much injustice in the world was simply too much to take. _"Do it..."_

Then... in that one moment... the world changed again.

Dan's body began to move, like he was a passenger in his own mind as he started for Rorschach. Jon's arm lifted as if in slow motion and everything froze.

_"... then make sure, this time, I never stop caring." _

The world caught up with them in an instant and there was a blinding moment of pain before... nothing.

Nothing left but blood on the snow.

In five minutes, when Nite Owl does not return to Karnak, Laurie will exit and find the blood.

In ten years, she will have not forgiven him for killing them.

And twenty-six years prior to that moment, two boys, aged nineteen and twelve wake as if from a nightmare to see that their sleeping horrors were only that...

A dream.

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><p>Quis custodiet<p>

ipsos custodes.

_Who watches the watchmen?_

- Juvenal, _Satires_, VI, 347

Quoted as the epigraph of the Tower

Commission Report, 1987

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><p>AN: I couldn't help myself. I doubt I'll continue it beyond here, but feel free to take your own spin on it. God knows there's already a crap load of similar stories out there. :)

Don't forget to Review.

Cya


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